Hot off the press – AP and just about every other news source is reporting that United has issued a press release saying it will honor the mistake fare. Boy am I jealous! Did you get in on the deal? Why do you think United responded as they did it? Was it not worth the legal fees and image battles to fight it? Could they have fought it? What do you think?
Here’s what Yahoo Finance had to say on the topic:
United Airlines says it will honor the tickets it accidentally gave away for free.
The decision is good news for people who snapped up the tickets on Thursday after United accidentally listed airfares at $0. Many customers got their tickets for $5 or $10, paying only the cost of the Sept. 11 security fee.
Airlines have posted so-called “mistake fares” before. Airlines generally decide on a case-by-case basis whether they’ll honor the ticket.
United isn’t saying how many tickets it accidentally gave away, or how much the mistake cost. The wrong fares were available on its website for a few hours on Thursday. It eventually shut down bookings on its website until it could fix the problem.
A New York frequent flyer who elegantly combines her passions for worldwide travel, running a gazillion marathons all over the globe and staying fit ... without sacrificing her fancy for good wine and food.
I was too busy at work yesterday and wasn’t checking my sources fast enough yesterday. Doh!
No tickets for me either…. where are those phone trees when you need them. Oh, that’s right…. I’m not on one 😉
I was under the impression that due to rulings of recent years, the US based carriers are responsible for their mistake fares. So honoring it seems to be the only option anyway. Maybe I’ve misunderstood.
I haven’t studied it carefully, but I thought I heard that the answer was murky because the base price of the tickets were $0, and the $5 or $10 represented tax that went to the government.